Hank Garner's Blog, page 45
August 25, 2015
Episode 53 Nick Cole’s secret book launch
Nick Cole, author of Soda Pop Soldier and the Old Man and the Wasteland surprised everyone by releasing The End of the World As We Knew It without any promotion leading up. Nick came on the show to talk with me about trying new things with publishing, connecting with audiences, and much more.
Grab a copy of Nick’s new book for only 99 cents!
The End of the World as We Knew It
In the future, an artist specializing in historical records creates a piece of art based on three separate accounts of the Pandemic. What follows is a patchwork tale of survival and horror as two lovers struggle to survive the undying dead and the collapse of an America turned charnel house. Told as memos from Ground Zero, and later in the journal of a Dark Tower-like quest by train and foot across a nightmare landscape of ruined cities and raving corpses, the three accounts reveal more than just the grim realities of society’s collapse. The Notebook meets The Walking Dead in this stained glass depiction of the end of the world as we knew it.
Soda Pop Soldier
Call of Duty meets Ready Player One in this fast-paced, action-packed novel from the author of The Wasteland Saga. Gamer PerfectQuestion fights for ColaCorp in WarWorld, an online Modern Warfare combat sport arena where mega-corporations field entire armies in the battle for real world global advertising-space dominance. Within the immense virtual battlefield, players and bots are high-tech grunts, using drop-ships and state-of-the-art weaponry to wipe each other out. But times are tough and the rent is due, and when players need extra dough, there’s always the Black, an illegal open source tournament where the sick and twisted desires of the future are given free rein in the Wastehavens, a gothic dungeon fantasy world. All too soon, the real and virtual worlds collide when PerfectQuestion refuses to become the tool of a mad man intent on hacking the global economy for himself.
The Old Man and the Wasteland
Part Hemingway, part Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, a suspenseful odyssey into the dark heart of the post-apocalyptic American Southwest.
Forty years after the destruction of civilization, human beings are reduced to salvaging the ruins of a broken world. One survivor’s most prized possession is Hemingway’s classic The Old Man and the Sea. With the words of the novel echoing across the wasteland, a living victim of the Nuclear Holocaust journeys into the unknown to break a curse.
What follows is an incredible tale of grit and endurance. A lone traveler must survive the desert wilderness and mankind gone savage to discover the truth of Hemingway’s classic tale of man versus nature.
Now with a new introduction by author Nick Cole.
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August 24, 2015
Episode 52 Ted Kosmatka interview
Ted Kosmatka, author of the new novel The Flicker Men, joins me on this week’s Author Stories. Ted shares with me his journey from writing short stories and collecting a drawer full of rejection slips to having the New York Times review his new book.
Ted is the author of numerous pieces of short fiction as well as The Flicker Men, Prophet of Bones, and The Game.
Ted’s work has been reprinted in nine Year’s Best anthologies, translated into numerous languages, and has been performed on stage in Indiana and New York. He’s been nominated for both the Nebula Award and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, and is co-winner of the 2010 Asimov’s Readers’ Choice Award. He works as a writer in the video game industry and lives with his family in the Pacific Northwest.
The Flicker Men
“A high-speed thriller. . . . The pages turn rapidly with well-orchestrated suspense.” – The New York Times
“If Stephen Hawking and Stephen King wrote a novel together, you’d get The Flicker Men. Brilliant, disturbing, and beautifully told.” -Hugh Howey, New York Times bestselling author of the Wool series
A quantum physicist shocks the world with a startling experiment, igniting a struggle between science and theology, free will and fate, and antagonizing forces not known to exist
Eric Argus is a washout. His prodigious early work clouded his reputation and strained his sanity. But an old friend gives him another chance, an opportunity to step back into the light.
With three months to produce new research, Eric replicates the paradoxical double-slit experiment to see for himself the mysterious dual nature of light and matter. A simple but unprecedented inference blooms into a staggering discovery about human consciousness and the structure of the universe.
His findings are celebrated and condemned in equal measure. But no one can predict where the truth will lead. And as Eric seeks to understand the unfolding revelations, he must evade shadowy pursuers who believe he knows entirely too much already.
Prophet of Bones
Ted Kosmatka’s sensational new thriller, Prophet of Bones, thrusts readers into an alternate present.
Paul Carlson, a brilliant young scientist, is summoned from his laboratory job to the remote Indonesian island of Flores to collect DNA samples from the ancient bones of a strange, new species of tool user unearthed by an archaeological dig. The questions the find raises seem to cast doubt on the very foundations of modern science, which has proven the world to be only 5,800 years old, but before Paul can fully grapple with the implications of his find, the dig is violently shut down by paramilitaries.
Paul flees with two of his friends, yet within days one has vanished and the other is murdered in an attack that costs Paul an eye, and very nearly his life. Back in America, Paul tries to resume the comfortable life he left behind, but he can’t cast the questions raised by the dig from his mind. Paul begins to piece together a puzzle which seems to threaten the very fabric of society, but world’s governments and Martial Johnston, the eccentric billionaire who financed Paul’s dig, will stop at nothing to silence him.
The Games
Jurassic Park meets The Hunger Games in this stunning new high-energy, high-concept tale from first-time novelist Ted Kosmatka, a Nebula Award and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award finalist.
Brilliant geneticist Silas Williams oversees U.S. selections for the Olympic Gladiator competition, an internationally sanctioned bloodsport with only one rule: No entrants may possess human DNA. Desperate to maintain America’s edge in the upcoming Games, Silas’s superior engages an experimental supercomputer to design the ultimate, unbeatable combatant. The result is a highly specialized killing machine, its genome never before seen on earth. But even a genius like Silas cannot anticipate the consequences of allowing a computer’s cold logic to play God. Growing swiftly, the mutant gladiator demonstrates preternatural strength, speed, and—most chillingly—intelligence. And before hell breaks loose, Silas and beautiful xenobiologist Vidonia João must race to understand what unbound science has wrought—even as their professional curiosity gives way to a most unexpected emotion: sheer terror.
“Blends the best of Crichton and Koontz.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Outstanding . . . very like something Michael Crichton might have written . . . [a] bold mix of horror and SF . . . Expect big things from [Ted] Kosmatka.”—Booklist (starred review)
“Kosmatka successfully captures the thrill of groundbreaking technology. . . . The pleasure of his polished, action-packed storytelling is deepened by strong character development. This near-future SF thriller . . . seems destined for the big screen.”—Library Journal (starred review)
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August 22, 2015
Book trailer for the newly released Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
7S7S is available now at amazon.com. Here’s what some folks have already said about it:
“Loved it, speed read through it & praise it!” – Seamus C.
“The characters were fantastic, the plot moved along nicely and I am looking forward to the second installment of this story. Well, done, Mr. Garner!” – Colby
“What does it mean to be a seventh son of a seventh son? Well in Oliver’s case it means keeping secrets… Big secrets, generational secrets. His Dad is instructing him but life goes sideways before his training is completed, and his dad disappears… And the ending, well let’s just say “mind blown.” ” – Carla M.
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August 21, 2015
Cover reveal: Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
My new book, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son is releasing soon and I thought you might like a sneak peek at the cover. Nick Cole said about the book:
“A twisty time thriller that will have you rooting for the hero, and absolutely terrified by a nightmare out of the past.” -Nick Cole
The multi-talented Kevin G. Summers put together the incredible artwork. By the way, have you listened to the interview I did with Kevin? You can listen to it here.
I’ll update you soon on the book release, let’s just say it’s imminent.
Contact Kevin for your graphics needs here, and buy his books here.
Oliver Webber has a secret. In fact, his family have been the guardians of that secret for years beyond imagining. Now, people everywhere are disappearing as an evil madman and a demonic civil war general seeking revenge, turn the Mississippi Delta into a fiery Apocalypse of mayhem and annihilation. Oliver Webber, his girlfriend, and a faithful hound, along with a conspiracy nut who might be more crazy than sane regardless of the truth, must fight a secret death cult and Time itself, to confront Oliver’s destiny as the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.
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August 20, 2015
New book from Matthew Mather: Nomad
Matthew Mather released a new book last week called Nomad. Mather is the master of tense thrillers with plots not just taken from current headlines, but predicting them. I read his last book Darknet a couple of months ago and can honestly say that it was one of the scariest reads of my life, not because it’s a horror novel, but because his attention to detail, character depth, and ability to tell a story that was unfolding in current news was terrifying.
I interviewed Matthew a few months ago for Author Stories. Give it a listen here.
Nomad is receiving a tremendous amount of early buzz. In fact, it has been nominated for the Kindle Select 25. Here’s a word from Matthew about it:
Now with Nomad, Matthew tackles another subject that is on a lot of people’s minds, a threat from outer space. I downloaded it yesterday to my Kindle and from the first page, I was hooked. Here’s the excerpt:
Something massive is coming…
And it’s heading for Earth.
That’s what Dr. Ben Rollins, head of Harvard’s exoplanet research team, is told by NASA after being dragged out of bed in the middle of the night. His first instinct is to call his daughter, Jessica, who’s vacationing in Italy with his wife. “Something is coming,” he tells them, “a hundred times the mass of the sun. We can’t see it, don’t know what it is, but it’s there. NASA’s calling it Nomad, and in just months, the Earth may be destroyed.”
“Set firmly in the realm of God-I-hope-not science fiction, Mather grounds his story in hard facts, weaving a tale that is all too plausible, gritty and realistic.” – Peter Cawdron, author of Anomaly
But what is it? And how did they miss detecting it until now? In a frantic race against time, Dr. Rollins must unravel Nomad’s secrets. A mysterious clue surfaces in his old research papers from the end of the Cold War, more than thirty years earlier…
The world erupts into chaos as the end approaches–and Ben discovers that his wife and daughter are trapped in Europe. The key to humanity’s survival rests in the final answers Dr. Rollins pieces together, in the midst of his desperate scramble across continents to find his family before Nomad swallows the planet.
MORE ABOUT NOMAD
A story of family, redemption, love and hope set amid a brand new category of cataclysm–all the more plausible and terrifying as the science behind it is vetted by a team of world-class astrophysicists from CERN, SETI, the Keck Observatory and more. It even has its own simulation video, included at the end of the book.
“An instant classic of the apocalyptic genre, a petrifyingly wild ride.” – A.C. Hadfield, bestselling author of The Atlantis Ship.
Nomad comes from the mind of award-winning, Amazon Best-Seller Matthew Mather, whose books have sold a half million copies and been translated into sixteen languages, with 20th Century Fox developing one of his latest novels, CyberStorm, for film.
Nomad
Darknet
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August 18, 2015
Calling all listeners of the Author Stories Podcast
If you enjoy Author Stories and have learned something from one of the authors featured or just been motivated by their stories, then please take a moment to make sure others get the same opportunity. A.S. is available on iTunes, Stitcher and YouTube. Please visit one or all of these outlets and rate the podcast, and subscribe if you would like to get the newest episodes for free when they are released. This will ensure that more people hear it and help us push it out to a larger audience, making sure we continue to get top quality guests. Thanks in advance, street team.
Here are the links to the show:
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August 17, 2015
Episode 51 with Hugh Howey
Hugh Howey joins me this week for episode 51 of Author Stories. Hugh is the best selling author of Wool, Sand, The Molly Fyde series, and most recently Beacon 23. Hugh was in South Africa when we recorded this, as he is preparing to set sail on his new boat Wayfinder.
Molly Fyde
It wasn’t easy for Molly being the only girl in Flight Academy, but getting expelled was even worse. Abandoned by her family when she was young and now tossed from the only home she’s ever known, her future looks bleak.
But then Molly hears that her father’s old starship has turned up halfway across the galaxy. Setting off to retrieve the old craft, she hopes it will hold clues to his disappearance. Accompanying her as a chaperone is Cole, her old flight partner from the Academy.
Molly can’t believe it. She’s now the proud owner of her own starship. Her Spring Break is going to be spent traveling across the galaxy with a cute boy. Could things possibly get any better?
Little does Molly know, they are about to get much, much worse . . .
Wool
This Omnibus Edition collects the five Wool books into a single volume. It is for those who arrived late to the party and who wish to save a dollar or two while picking up the same stories in a single package.
The first Wool story was released as a standalone short in July of 2011. Due to reviewer demand, the rest of the story was released over the next six months. My thanks go out to those reviewers who clamored for more. Without you, none of this would exist. Your demand created this as much as I did.
This is the story of mankind clawing for survival, of mankind on the edge. The world outside has grown unkind, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are given the very thing they profess to want: They are allowed outside.
Sand
The old world is buried. A new one has been forged atop the shifting dunes. Here in this land of howling wind and infernal sand, four siblings find themselves scattered and lost. Their father was a sand diver, one of the elite few who could travel deep beneath the desert floor and bring up the relics and scraps that keep their people alive. But their father is gone. And the world he left behind might be next.
Welcome to the world of Sand, the first new novel from New York Times bestselling author Hugh Howey since his publication of the Silo Saga. Unrelated to those works, which looked at a dystopian world under totalitarian rule, Sand is an exploration of lawlessness. Here is a land ignored. Here is a people left to fend for themselves. Adjust your ker and take a last, deep breath before you enter.
Beacon 23
For centuries, men and women have manned lighthouses to ensure the safe passage of ships. It is a lonely job, and a thankless one for the most part. Until something goes wrong. Until a ship is in distress.
In the 23rd century, this job has moved into outer space. A network of beacons allows ships to travel across the Milky Way at many times the speed of light. These beacons are built to be robust. They never break down. They never fail.
At least, they aren’t supposed to
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August 16, 2015
Mulligan Audio book Chapter One
We are producing the Mulligan audio book, and it will be available soon on my web site. Here is a sample chapter. When we finish the post production, I will make it available and share the links. I hope you enjoy this early sample.
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August 15, 2015
Indie Author Success Stories
A few days ago I wrote a blog about dealing with negative reviews, and it was read by a lot of people. People love to know that they are not alone and that others have had to deal with the same hurdles. But today I want to take a different look at publishing. Success.
Everybody has a different definition of success, but I think most of us would agree that when our stories get out to the world and find a home in people’s hearts and minds, that’s success. Over the last year of hosting the Author Stories Podcast, I have made some really great friends, and have gotten to pick the brains of some of the best writers out there today. I gathered some reviews from some of these authors to illustrate what success looks like. These are actual reviews form Amazon.
Shadows Burned in | Chris Pourteau
Reading it for a 2nd time
This is one of those books that as you read, you think you have it figured out, and then page after page, you realize you don’t, and in the process, you are forced to reflect on your own human tendencies. I consider myself both a literary and psychology enthusiast and I am now about to read the book a second time because I realized how much I missed the first time. I missed it not because it was not there, but because I am human with my own experiences and this book brings those out, so I could not see what was in front of me (which is true for all of us). I find few books that have this ability and few writers with the amount of depth that can create a story that will hold the reader’s attention while making the reader reflect on himself/herself, often unconsciously. It has the feel of an easy read, but it results in a large amount of reflection.
The Fourth Sage | Stefan Bolz
You will love this.
This book is for the soul searcher and the deep thinker, but not in a complex way. It is a beautifully created masterpiece for which I willingly gave up hours of sleep. The author’s fable, The Three Feathers, is my favorite book. I was afraid I may not want to read this one because I was so moved and inspired by The Three Feathers. However, The Fourth Sage is now held special and sacred in my heart too, by way each character is introduced and then proceeds to shine in his or her unique way. I don’t know many writers able to give proper attention to numerous characters as Stefan Bolz has. I especially love the interweaving of relationships in the second half of this work. I feel irreverent to talk about them but I love them all. Please do read this book. Please read it and keep it close.
Beacon 23 | Hugh Howey
Orson Scott Card, move over.
Beacon 23 is an unexpected gift that comes in a plain brown wrapper. What begins in Book 1 as a quirky short story with a lot of funny bits turns into a tale about love, war, and the biggest questions we wrestle with as humans… and as sentient beings.I see this story as the successor to Ender’s Game.
Don’t miss it. A classic book we’ll be talking about for a long time.
Confessions of a Failed Envionmentalist
Highly recommended read!
This contemporary offering by accomplished author, Jennifer Ellis, tackles the complexity, hypocrisy and guilt that comes with trying to live in an environmentally conscious way. The main character, Alana, has a witty and clever view of the world. She is definitely a character that environmentalists (especially those with young children) will relate to and understand. The story itself is action packed with lots of twist and turns (including a satisfying love connection). The issues tackled by Alana through the proposed development of a mine in the watershed of her small town are real and serious but Ellis handles them in a balanced, sensitive and engaging manner. Highly recommended!
Darknet | Matthew Mather
Realistic, Thrilling, and more than a little Terrifying
Just like in his massive hit, “Cyberstorm,” Matthew Mather does what he does best: he takes reality and adds just enough of a sci-fi touch to make it terrifying and relatable.When I first started reading DARKNET, it took a little while before I became really engrossed in the high-tech world of finance that the protagonist Jake O’Connell lived in. Just like some of the characters themselves, I found myself in over my head in the world of crypto currency, algorithms, assassin markets, and dark networks, but my patience was rewarded when the reader learns alongside those characters.
Mather makes sure the reader knows no one is safe in his world, introducing and killing off multiple characters throughout the book. In fact, I wasn’t totally sure if his protagonist Jake was really truly safe to get comfortable with until about a quarter of the way into the book.
As a stock broker in New York, Jake is familiar with the high-stakes game of Wall Street finances, but is unprepared when his world crumbles around him. His childhood friend dies in a mysterious accident in London, his boss is arrested on charges by the SEC, and he himself is framed for rape, causing his wife and daughter to leave him. All the while, Jake is trying to clear himself and ends up uncovering a massive secret that could threaten the economies of nearly every country on the planet. Along the way, he finds his own life in danger as well as those of his family and friends.
Once I really got into the story, I couldn’t put it down, reading in every spare minute until I was done. Mather is a phenomenal storyteller, weaving a thriller like the best out there. I was impressed with the immense and complex world he had created in DARKNET, topped only by the characters and the situations they find themselves in around every corner.
The scary thing about DARKNET is that Mather completely creates a plausible scenario for a near-future event. What if some of the technology we use and employ today evolves to the level of where it exists in DARKNET? What would happen? Just like the potential of catastrophe in “Cyberstorm,” Mather presents a worst-case scenario of sorts in the midst of a thriller.
I loved this book and will look forward to reading it again in the future. Well done, Mr. Mather. Keep writing them like this and I’ll keep reading them.
Brother, Frankenstein | Michael Bunker
What does it mean to be human?
I have read Michael Bunker’s Pennsylvania Omnibus. I received the first part for free, but was so intrigued by the story I bought the rest. I love science fiction and Amish science fiction is a wonderful new twist on this genre.I won’t do a rehash Brother, Frankenstein, since that has been done in many of the reviews above. The first person telling of the story really pulled me in, especially with all the self-talk and side comments, almost stream of consciousness at times. The storyteller, Dr. Chris Alexander, is clearly a very flawed man, but in that I think we can all identify to some degree. Through the telling of the story you watch the growth not only of the of Chris, but also Frank, the autistic Amish boy, and the changes in their relationship.
At any given time, I didn’t know where the story would go, it kept me guessing and in no way would I have anticipated the way in which it would end. The truths, moral issues, contrasts in ways of life, in particular the Amish, simple ways and the high tech, ruthless world give one much to ponder. What is it that makes us human?
I was so very pleased that the character, Frank, was autistic. What a stroke of genius! I have a son with Asperger’s Syndrome and even though he doesn’t do all of the things Frank did, so much of his behavior and the degree of high intelligence are perfectly captured. Michael Bunker really nailed it.
I am truly looking forward to reading many more of Michael Bunker’s books and highly recommend Brother, Frankenstein.
The Potters Daughter | Daniel Arthur Smith
The Potter’s Daughter
I was drawn in to Abby’ s story right from page one, and it kept my attention to the very last page!! In fact I was disappointed when her story came to an end, I wanted more!! The author did an excellent job with his descriptions of all the places in Willow Lake, I was able to visualize myself being right there with them in the story. The story was full of interesting characters and places, I am hoping Abby’ s story will continue in a sequel, I’d like to visit Willow Lake again, maybe in the summer? I would definitely recommend this book!!
Bloom | Hank Garner
Great Book With Great Lessons
This book exceeded my expectations. It grabbed me from the moment I started reading it and I kept thinking about when I could pick it up and continue until I finished. This book is actually the first book that I have used the highlight feature on my Kindle. I highlighted several passages reading it. I believe this book will be one of those that you will get something different out of it each time that you read it. I cannot recommend this book enough. This book will help change your life and the way you look at things.
If you search the interwebs you can find plenty of information about how to market your book, how to plan your career and whether or not you should be exclusive to one platform or another. What you won’t find much of is how to get people to engage with your story. That’s because there is no substitute for pouring your heart and soul into your story, and your readers know it.
So what is success for an author? Of course sales are important. Let’s not pretend that we don’t want to sell lots of books, but I believe what most authors want more than anything is for readers to read our books. And after they have read those books, we want people to sit and think about the stories we’ve told and about the characters that we have implanted into their imaginations.
If you are an author, I hope you sell a ton of books, but I also hope that you write stories that leave a mark on readers’ hearts.
That’s success.
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